April 4, 2009

Into the future (Boston Globe)What changes could coming years bring to Boston's landscape? We asked the Globe's architecture critic to gaze into his crystal ball and tell us the shape of things to come.

Into the future (Boston Globe)What changes could coming years bring to Boston's landscape? We asked the Globe's architecture critic to gaze into his crystal ball and tell us the shape of things to come.
By Robert Campbell -- As City Weekly fades into the past, it seems a good moment to look to Boston's future. What can we expect in the next 10 or 20 years? I'll start with an axiom I picked up from Toronto urban designer Ken Greenberg, who does a lot of work in Boston. Says Greenberg: "The big problems we're facing in the world today will be solved in cities."

Can Bostonians save the T? (Universal Hub)Transit and environmental groups will ask local subway riders on Thursday to urge their legislators to support a gas-tax increase that would include money for the T, in a leafletting campaign at Boston T stops - and South Station. But even as they work to counter rising anger in the western part of the state over alleged money-grubbing by Boston, the groups were failing tonight to get specifics from T officials on just how bad T service cuts could be without extra state funding, which they said will make it harder to convince people to pick up the phone.

Senate backs bill to merge T, Pike (Boston Globe, Boston Herald)State expects savings under mega-agency
By Noah Bierman -- As credit analysts issued their latest warning about the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the state Senate yesterday passed a bill that leaders promised would fundamentally change the state's transportation system and lay the groundwork for repairing its dilapidated finances. The bill would eliminate the Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which is also in a fiscal crisis, and replace them with a new mega-agency that would oversee all roads, bridges, tunnels, subways, trains, and buses.

Virginia adopts innovative smart streets rules (NRDC, Planetizen)
By Ken Benfield -- Under the leadership of governor Tim Kaine, the Commonwealth of Virginia has adopted new requirements designed to make neighborhood streets more connected, walkable, and safe. In particular, the new regulations limit the number of new dead-end cul-de-sacs, require sidewalks in most new subdivisions, and encourage narrower street widths that slow traffic. Developers must meet the new criteria in order for their streets to be eligible for maintenance by the state.

VIDEO: Riding the Bx12 Select Bus Service (Streetfilms)
Veronica Vanterpool of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign recently took Streetfilms for a journey on the Bx12 Select Bus Service (SBS) instituted last year on Fordham Road in the Bronx. Travel time on the route has been cut by 20 percent thanks to the improvements, and commuters we spoke with certainly sang its praises. A recent report showed the SBS is carrying 30 percent more riders than the line it replaced, and a NYC Transit rider report card found 98 percent of users rated it satisfactory or very satisfactory.

Reinventing America's Cities - The Time Is Now (New York Times)
By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- THE country has fallen on hard times, but those of us who love cities know we have been living in the dark ages for a while now. We know that turning things around will take more than just pouring money into shovel-ready projects, regardless of how they might boost the economy. Windmills won’t do it either. We long for a bold urban vision.